Roskomnadzor is preparing to block the mirrors of pirated sites

Photo: REUTERS / Kacper Pempel

Many sites that are blocked in Russia, immediately after blocking, move to new domains. Now the Moscow City Court does not have the right to automatically block the mirrors of pirated sites, as a result of which the right holders have to file a new lawsuit, writes Izvestia. But the situation may change soon. Last week, a meeting was held between the right holders and representatives of Roskomnadzor, where a decision was made to draft a bill to equalize the “mirrors” and the blocked resources themselves.

According to Alexander Akopov, the president of the Amedia film company, it was already high time for the term “mirror of the site” to be defined by law, which will help the courts decide on such resources.

Now the relevant departments are already doing this. “The community of owners together with the Roskomnadzor and the Moscow City Court is developing a definition of a“ mirror ”of pirated resources. When the proposals are ready, they will be sent to one of the authorities, which has the right of legislative initiative, ”said Vadim Ampelonsky, the official representative of Roskomnadzor.
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Previously, some copyright holders filed lawsuits with the Moscow City Court demanding that the pirate site and its mirrors be blocked, but without success. “There were one or two attempts to bring in the suit and relatives up to the seventh knee, that is, there are similar sites. The judge, after weighing the feasibility of the decision, came to the conclusion that in our legal dictionary such a concept as “clone”, “copy” or “mirror” of the site is not defined. Therefore, no decision was made on the “mirrors”; the problem is relevant. While the trial is underway for one domain, its owners change their address and move to another, ”says the head of the Internet Video Association, Alexey Birdin.

Representatives of the Moscow City Court explain that there really is no definition of the concept of “mirror” in the law. This is the site itself or part of it, if part, then what? All this is necessary to disassemble and discuss.

“At present, the concept of“ site mirror ”is not legally established, and the procedure for judicial blocking of“ mirrors ”has not been established. Therefore, the court cannot consider the issue of blocking "mirrors" in the framework of the consideration of the claim on blocking the main resource. All claims submitted to the court are reviewed in accordance with the procedure established by the current Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, ”explains the official representative of the Moscow City Court, Ulyana Solopova.

At the same time, some officials believe that it is necessary to distinguish the term "mirror" from the term "copy of the site." “A copy of the site may have a different administrator. Blocking a copy along with the main site is a violation of the Constitution, which guarantees everyone the right to judicial protection, ”says Anatoly Semenov, the president’s ombudsman for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs in the field of intellectual property. According to the ombudsman, even if the site is a complete copy of a blocked pirate site, this does not entitle the court to block this copy.